Tag Archive: Durham City Council

“Cause summer’s here and the time is right for dancin’ in the streets.”
‑‑Martha and the Vandallas, 1964

“Cause summer’s here and the time is right for fightin’ in the streets.”
–The Rolling Stones, 1968

We endorse the call out for a demonstration at the Durham jail on Friday June 13th and invite anyone to join us in filling the heavy June evening air with the sounds of drums, shakers, kazoos, pots, pans, whistles and anything that makes noise. It is right to rebel, and it is always right to show solidarity with those who rebel in creative and courageous ways. So, we will stand strong for targeted eco-activists and longterm anarchist prisoners, along with prisoners poised to strike at Polk C.I. (in Butner, NC) and, of course, prisoners in the Durham jail.

Coinciding with international days of action in support of targeted radical environmental activists, we are taking the occasion of this lone Friday the 13th of 2014 to show support for the ongoing struggles of Durham jail prisoners and to register our disgust for the so-called protest rules introduced by Durham’s city council this winter.

Freedom Friday to fight repression

What do the cases of Marie Mason, Eric McDavid and other long-term eco-activist prisoners (see june11.org/) have in common with the situation faced by those organizing in the Durham jail against conditions and those on the outside in Durham who have been pulling back the curtain on police misconduct? Repression by state forces. This occurs and can be expected whenever there is a level of success and where official power deems that example must be snuffed out by any means necessary. To honor all prisoners in motion against their oppression, we must also fight what we face on the outside. To relight the flame of popular revolt, we must bring a good mix of Martha & the Vandallas and, if necessary,the Rolling Stones, as always we should.

Although we come in a festive mood to conjure images of a world without prisons and jails, cops, or borders, we also come in a militant mood, because Durham city council attempted this winter to straitjacket dissent and to sow the fear of resistance in the future. What more absurd thing could come from a council which in one breath in late January declares its ‘support’ of public dissent and in the other delivers its new rules of protest? The only thing more absurd is they are not new rules at all, but were only re-established after police actions and the council’s own missteps this winter.(more…)

Please help spread the word that on June 13th at 8pm, there will be a noise demo at the downtown Durham jail. The call-out is part of several benefits and letter writing events going on throughout the triangle that week as part of the June 11th Day of Solidarity with Long-Term Anarchist and Eco Prisoners.

It’s also taking place in opposition to recent statements/ordinances by the Durham City Council that seek to criminalize protest. Specifically, a recent statement forbids protests at night, protests without a permit, and the use of masks or other tools to hide identity from law enforcement. It is clearly a symbolic gesture at containing the kinds of anger and protest that erupted this past winter after Chuy Huerta died in police custody, which helped to galvanize and catalyze increase public anger and opposition to DPD.Finally, the demo is in solidarity with the prisoners in the jail, who have engaged in various acts of resistance and organizing over the last couple years, as well as with prisoners currently on hunger strike at Polk CI in Butner, NC over a wide range of grievances.Please spread the word! Folks are encouraged to show up loud and angry, with banners, drums, pots and pans, and whatever else they’d like to use to make some serious noise.